​Best IFTTT Applets for your smart home

Alexa, Nest, Apple Homekit and Google’s Brillo are definitely upping the home automation game but IFTTT has been kicking ass and taking names in the space for years, with its Applets (previously called IFTTT recipes).

IFTTT – or If This Then That for those yet to make its acquaintance – is a web-based service that allows various platforms and gadgets to trigger responses in one another that otherwise wouldn’t be possible.

Many of the best IFTTT recipes are helpful workarounds for ways of using kit that haven’t quite patched as out-of-the-box just yet.

Got a few smart home products already? Well, here are some of the best IFTTT Applets that you can start using today.

Visual cues

Setting a timer with Amazon Echo? You can add in the bonus of visual cues from the Philips Hue lightbulbs too in case you really don’t want to forget the cake in the oven or miss the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Once the timer counts down to zero, the lights will blink.

Save water

There’s a recipe for watering your plants but there’s also one for not watering them too. Why’d you want to do that? To save money and water by pausing your watering system automatically if it’s going to rain the next day.

Turn off Wi-Fi when not at home

Get a hot coffee when you wake up

If nothing gets you going in the morning quicker than a cup of hot coffee and you happen to own one of the fitbit wireless activity monitor and a Belkin WeMo plug, the two can be used in conjunction with a simple recipe that automatically switches on your coffee machine the moment you wake up.

Use an old iPhone as a CCTV camera

If you happen to have an old iPhone, iPad or iPod touch that you’re no longer using, then why not turn it into a handy Wi-Fi camera that can monitor your home whilst you aren’t there. The app can record video and send motion activated alerts to your email using a simple IFTTT recipe. Manything is also in beta for Android, so can be used in conjunction with an old Android phone, too.

Match your lighting with your Instagram

If you’re somewhat of an Instagram addict and are the proud owner of the Philips Hue smart lighting system, you can intertwine the two to change your room’s lighting to reflect the predominant colours of the latest photo you have uploaded. Want to fill your room with warmth after sunset? Simply take a snap of the setting sun and let IFTTT do the rest.

Send you a text when your house gets hot

The SMS channel on IFTTT can be used to trigger or alert all sorts of things via text message, which is especially helpful if you are out of range of 3G or Wi-Fi reception. This particular recipe can send you a text to let you know when your house is getting too hot; there is also a recipe to send an SMS messages to adjust the temperature via your nest.

Lights up as the sun goes down

LIFX smart bulbs are the Kickstarter-created big rivals to the Philips Hue system and this recipe is a compelling USP. It links your bulbs’ dimming skills to Yahoo Weather, to power up your lighting when the sun goes. You can then experience a magical phasing up of your home’s electric light intensity as the natural one from the outside world fades out into dusk. Beautiful, baby.

Wake up, lights on

For simultaneous Philips Hue and Jawbone UP owners, this top recipe is the ultimate alarm clock. When the Jawbone’s sleep monitor recognises you waking, it will power up your lights. A super addition for those dark winter mornings, it’s a smart idea for any SAD suffer.

Stop your teens stealing your booze

Of the many recipes you’ll find on IFTTT, one of the most original and unique is the idea of hooking it up to your drinks cabinet at home. Should anyone open the door to your Aladdin’s cave of half-drunk, out-of-date holiday liqueurs, this set up will dial you straight away and let you know. The parenting end of the equation is up to you.

Lock your door behind you

Automatically locking your door behind you would be a problem if you needed keys to open in but, with a SmartThings system, one of the bonuses is that you can use your Android mobile phone to do it instead. When you and your cell cross the threshold, your location is reported to the main hub, which then bolts your house. So, no more wondering whether or not you really did double lock. Just drive off into the sunset. Don’t look back.

Nest Correct

The Nest Thermostat is great and everything but it does have the odd moment, particularly as the seasons change. A sudden heat wave will leave it rather conflicted and the end result is that you can often come in from a scorching day to find your boiler motoring away at full pelt. That’s where this IFTTT link up with Yahoo Weather comes in useful. It can very firmly let your Nest know that should the mercury hit a certain temp and beyond, it should shut itself down.

Water the plants

Can’t trust the neighbors to water your garden while you’re away? Bag yourself a Parrot plant sensor, a WeMo switch, plug in this IFTTT recipe and you’ve got a homemade watering system. Once the Parrot realises that soil water is too low, it calls for the WeMo to turn on the taps and, hey presto, it’s a drink for your clematis. The only trouble is that you’ll need to find another recipe to get it to switch off again.

Withings weight on Misfit

So, you love your Misfit wearable but there’s no Wi-Fi-connected scales just yet. Instead, you bought the Withings one but then that’s two web platforms to quantify your self with and who needs that? Thankfully, some bright spark is on the case with this recipe that auto-records your mass to the Misfit software every time you step onto your Smart Body Scales. Job done.

Smoke alarm tweet

Part of the Nest Protect’s job is to send you a message should a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm go off in your house but, if you’re not around to take that message, there’s a chance that things might not end well. Fortunately, you can use this recipe to boost the warning signal up to a big shout out in the form of a tweet. Automatically set your Twitter account to post your words onto Facebook too, so the alarm will be raised, even if you never knew a thing about it.

Purple rain

Last of all and definitely the least problem-solving on this list is the IFTTT recipe that switches your Philips Hue bulbs to purple while it rains outside. Again, it’s the Yahoo Weather service that provides the precipitation reports while you appreciate your homemade Prince homage every time it pours. Now, if only your Sonos could kick in at the same time. WARNING: might get really old if you live in Seattle.